KUNA, Idaho — Two Treasure Valley nonprofits are teaming up to rescue even more animals.
- The canine rescue team is heading to Emmett and will have farmland where they plan to rescue more animals.
- Kuna animal sanctuary, Dominifarm helped Meridian Canine Rescue learn how to care for pigs.
- For more updates, check out Meridian Canine Rescue and Dominifarm on Facebook.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
Meridian Canine Rescue has "pig" plans on the horizon.
After a successful relocation campaign, the team and the dogs in their care will shift shelter operations to a new property in Emmett.
“So looking for a property where there was a home with some land on in which we could have some enrichment yard was really important to us,” said Jessica Ewing, the Executive Director and Canine Trainer.
When deciding what kind of farm animals the rescue team would take on they reached out to their friends at Dominifarm in Kuna “And they said pigs should be the first ones,” said Ewing.
Sara Meyrovich, Dominifarm board member and volunteer said, ‘Because it’s so common for pigs to need to be rehomed. People take in pigs thinking that they’re going to be small and they end up not being able to care for them properly,” said Meyrovich.
Farm volunteers teach canine trainers the ins and outs of caring for pigs and the similarities between the two four-legged friends.
“They’re a little bit different in how you would train them, but in terms of intelligence, yes, they [pigs] have been compared to the intelligence of chimpanzees,” said Meyrovich.
“We got to see some really cute moments and I think there is a lot for us to learn, but there are enough parallels between pigs and dogs that we at least have an idea going in,” said Ewing.
“They’re very empathetic when you’re having a bad day, they come and check on you,” said Meyrovich.
Besides 15 acres of land for pups and pigs to run around in the new property will have a house to ensure realistic training for canine’s getting ready for their fur-ever homes.
“...and the dogs could practice things like, what to do if a visitor comes knocking at the door, or how to crate train in a bedroom if they need it,” said Ewing.
Even with more room to grow, the nonprofit will continue its mission of working and educating owners in an effort to lower the amount of surrendered animals in Idaho.
